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12.12.2012

our first video: backyard play

How silly am I? Now that we have video capability, I felt sad that we don't have video of all our past dogs, the ones who are gone. And because of this, I didn't want to take videos of these dogs!

Very silly. I finally decided to not let that stop me anymore. So we just taught ourselves the basics: shoot, edit, convert, upload. Ta-da. It's not exactly professional quality, but it's good enough for YouTube.

19 comments:

Actually, we have about 30 minutes of Gypsy and Clyde - our first two dogs - running around in upstate New York sometime between 1989 and 1991. ... I should get that VHS tape converted to DVD at some point. But I'm scared whoever does the conversion would fuck it up.

FWIW, we have converted lots of video to DVD without mishap. I used to do it myself with one of the original DVRs that I hooked up to our VCR. We don't have the VCR anymore though. Now I am trying to learn how to rip the DVDs to my computer because who uses a DVD player any more with streaming and on demand available?

This is one of the mysteries of dog play. Even when they are in total play mode, going totally nuts, they freeze - stop - look off, look around - and suddenly start again. Not just these dogs, all dogs. It's so funny.

We did a lot of purging when we moved. Kept the records and the tapes, but we have no turntable that works nor do we have a cassette player. Plus no place to put them. One advantage of digital storage---less clutter, less use of space.

That reminds me of this vid my friend took, which unfortunately isn't on youtube any more. Her dog and a friend's dog (who, coincidentally, looked nearly identical) were tearing around the living room like complete lunatics, around and around and around. Then, suddenly, they both stop, calmly walk over to the water dishes, and have a drink of water. Then they start tearing around like complete lunatics again.

Even when they are in total play mode, going totally nuts, they freeze - stop - look off, look around - and suddenly start again. Not just these dogs, all dogs.

Might be that they are stopping just to check with each other that all is still in fun.

More likely might be that it goes against the grain to lose track of their surroundings for too long--they just want to check for problems or situations that they can't focus on while goofing on each other.

Some sorts of play like this sparring seem to have a pretty quick half-life--a few minutes. But I've known dogs who will chase a tennis ball as long as a human can stand to throw it. With our five dogs (# 6, Max, died a few weeks ago), a playful twosome is almost always broken up after a minute by the intervention of a curious or irritated third dog. Then play degenerates into a d.i.--DOG INCIDENT!--requiring intervention from the bosses.

Her dog and a friend's dog (who, coincidentally, looked nearly identical) were tearing around the living room like complete lunatics, around and around and around. Then, suddenly, they both stop, calmly walk over to the water dishes, and have a drink of water. Then they start tearing around like complete lunatics again.

Ours do stuff like that all the time! It's hilarious.

Goldfine seems to have the explanation for it. Makes sense - and is still mysterious.

Amy, we did LOTS of purging when we moved to Canada. ("We" meaning Allan.) I love space and I hate clutter. But the day I consider music clutter, put a pillow over my head. I have some kind of dementia and have changed into someone else. :)

More likely might be that it goes against the grain to lose track of their surroundings for too long--they just want to check for problems or situations that they can't focus on while goofing on each other.

This reminds me of something our little terrier Clyde used to do. She'd roll around in the grass, writhing on her back (as dogs like to do), then suddenly go back to a lying-down position with her head up, hyper-alert, checking in every direction. She looked like a cartoon of "Who's there? Trying to sneak up on me, eh?"

I'm sure lots of dogs do this, but we got a laugh out of it every time.

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